The Foodbank is grateful for the variety of donors and contributors that support local hunger relief. A unique supporter that might not be an obvious partnership, is the international logistics and trucking company, Penske Logistics.
The local Penske facility in Macedonia stores and manages the supply chain for Starbucks stores in Ohio and neighboring states. Penske oversees the inventory of the prepared food available in stores, including breakfast sandwiches, lunch boxes, sweets and more. Sometimes, there’s a surplus of these items and rather than send them to the landfill, this nourishing food is donated to the Foodbank. In 2021, Penske donated 52,000 pounds of food to the Foodbank, helping provide more than 43,000 meals for Northeast Ohioans.
Starbucks donates food to food banks all across the country because of its relationship with Feeding America, the nation’s largest charitable response to hunger relief comprised of 202 food banks in the U.S.
But Penske Logistics chose to engage with the Foodbank on an even deeper level.
“Seven years ago, we took a vote amongst our associates to learn what local charitable organization they’d like to start working with, and the Foodbank was chosen,” said Joy Martin, senior operations manager at Penske.
In addition to helping manage Starbucks food donations, Joy and her team at Penske send volunteers to the Foodbank. They’ve participated in the former 24-hour volunteer event, Operation Orange, and they coordinate a Harvest for Hunger Campaign.
Penske’s 100+ associates love to participate in food-centered activities to support the Campaign. Bake sales, catered lunches and cookouts are always crowd-pleasers. They also organize a silent auction. This year’s
big-ticket items include a smart TV, a weekend getaway in Cleveland, a prime parking spot and a stylish pair of sunglasses.
Joy plans all these activities for her associates because hunger relief is important to her. “Hunger is prevalent, and it affects more people than we realize. And I’m very concerned about kids — I can’t imagine being a child who’s hungry trying to sit in school. No one should go hungry, especially since there’s so much food available.”